Key stakeholders from health, food and agriculture, animal health and policy gathered on 21st May 2026 for a side-event to the 79th World Health Assembly to discuss a critical global challenge: how to ensure food security while addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Organized by the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform members from the University of Guelph’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses and FOUR PAWS, together with the Platform’s Action Group on the Animal Welfare–Antimicrobial Resistance Nexus, and with support from Brazil and Sweden, the event pushed past commitments to focus on implementation, positioning the One Health approach, spanning human, animal, plant and environmental health, as essential to effective AMR action.
From commitment to action
The event opened with a clear message: the global community already has the evidence and frameworks needed to address AMR. What is needed now is to translate these commitments into concrete actions and real implementation.
Mariangela Simão (Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance, Ministry of Health, Brazil) and Jean-Pierre Nyemazi (Director, Quadripartite Joint Secretariat for AMR) both stressed that the real gap is coordinated delivery: policies must be grounded in science, backed by investment, and matched with accountability at country level.
A consensus emerged around shifting from reacting to disease toward preventing it at the source, especially in agrifood systems. Julio Pinto (Animal Health Officer, FAO) highlighted RENOFARM, FAO's 10-year initiative to reduce antimicrobial need on farms, noting that "healthy farms need fewer antimicrobials" and that good animal welfare directly supports productivity and farmer livelihoods.
One Health in practice
Across panels, the One Health approach emerged as the only viable pathway to address AMR effectively. Speakers stressed that animal health and welfare are not peripheral considerations, but central components of a sustainable AMR response
Ayoade Alakija (Ministerial Global Envoy for AMR, Nigeria) and Lisa Indar (Executive Director, Caribbean Public Health Agency) called for agriculture and animal welfare to be treated as core AMR pillars, not afterthoughts, urging ministries of agriculture to be engaged as equal partners from the start. Oliver Kacelnik (Special Adviser, Department of Public Health, Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services) added that joint ministerial ownership helps secure financing, while Lawrence Gostin (Georgetown University) pushed for "deep prevention" over detection-focused systems, pointing to behavioural change among producers and consumers alike.
Javier Yugueros-Marcos (Head of Department Antimicrobial Resistance & Veterinary Products, WOAH) noted the updated Global Action Plan now formally recognizes animal welfare as a pillar of infection prevention. Jorge Matheu (Scientist at the Governance, Coordination and Monitoring Unit, AMR Department, WHO) added urgency: 22% of reporting countries still use antimicrobials for growth promotion, often with critically important antibiotics, a clear opportunity for immediate action. Regarding the Global Action Plan, Masika Sophie (Global Health Policy Manager, World Federation for Animals) noted that translating global commitments into national action requires adapting strategies to local contexts, from industrial systems in large economies to backyard farming in countries like Kenya.
Key recommendations: invest in prevention, welfare and biosecurity; operationalize One Health across ministries; strengthen national action plans; and mobilize cross-sector financing.
The message was unambiguous: addressing AMR and feeding the world are not competing goals. With tools and evidence already in place, what remains is implementation, integration and political will. The updated Global Action Plan on AMR is a critical opportunity to move from commitment to action and to ensure that One Health becomes not just a concept, but a lived reality across countries and communities.